In the article titled ‘Labour will make us as bad as
France,’ the prime minister cited a visit made by Miliband
to Paris three years ago, where the Labour leader said he wanted
to follow President Francois Hollande’s “new way.”

“He wanted us to follow the same path as the new French
government. But where has that path led?” Cameron wrote.

“Unemployment over the Channel is almost twice what it is in
the UK. Our economy is growing seven times faster than
France’s.

“Imagine if Miliband had been free to pursue his French
dream: the fallout would be felt in catastrophic job losses,
falling living standards, eye-watering debt and fast-diminishing
hope in our future,” he added.

Cameron’s swipe at Miliband at the expense of Britain’s closest
continental neighbor follows similar comments made by Chancellor
George Osborne during his budget speech last Wednesday.

Osborne commended his own economic track record by claiming the
“great county” of Yorkshire has created more jobs in
recent years than the whole of France.

Data from Eurostat indicates employment in Yorkshire increased by
76,400 between 2010 and 2013, while during the same period
employment in France grew by 66,000.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) described how British MPs “loudly
signaled” their approval for the chancellor’s remarks in
Parliament.

AFP said he made multiple “cutting remarks” aimed at the
“former hereditary enemy of the English.”

La Tribune described Osborne’s speech as just one example in a
day of “French-bashing” in Westminster.

The newspaper went on to say it is not the first time the British
PM has taken a mocking tone towards France, citing a speech
Cameron made in June 2012 where he offered to “roll out the red
carpet” for French companies fleeing President Hollande’s tax
increases.

Even the right-leaning paper Le Figaro took issue with Cameron’s
comments, citing a recent article in the Economist which
described Britain as an “island of spectacularly cheap, if
not terribly efficient, workers.”

“Output per hour worked is still 2 percent below its
pre-crisis peak; in the rest of the G7 group of rich countries it
is 5 percent higher,” the Economist wrote.

“The French could take Friday off and still produce more than
Britons do in a week.”